The Long Game

Money Moves 💰

SKIMS Acquires SKKN

• Deal: SKIMS acquires Kim Kardashian’s majority stake and Coty’s minority stake in SKKN BY KIM

• Categories: Skincare, makeup, fragrance, shapewear

• What’s happening: All beauty products will relaunch under the SKIMS brand in 2026

Kim is building a lifestyle empire and unifying her brand architecture to match. SKIMS will soon span four verticals: fashion, shapewear, skincare, and fragrance.

Brand Breakdown 📈 

On Running

On Running is one of the fastest-growing performance footwear brands in the world — now doing over $2B in annual revenue, and quietly outperforming giants like Nike and Adidas in key markets.

So how did they get there?

It all started in Switzerland in 2010, when former professional athlete Olivier Bernhard and his co-founders set out to design a running shoe that felt completely different. Not just lighter or faster — but more comfortable.

Their solution? A proprietary sole technology called CloudTec, designed to mimic the sensation of landing on a cloud.

That phrase — running on clouds — became the brand’s north star.

For the first few years, On was quiet. Niche. Distributed mostly through specialty retailers and embraced by the endurance crowd in Europe. But the founders had bigger ambitions — and a very different vision for growth.

Then came the turning point.

In 2019, Roger Federer joined the company — not as a spokesperson, but as an investor and strategic partner. He reportedly took a 3% equity stake, and immediately began co-developing a signature line with the brand. That single move gave On instant global credibility — and positioned it not as a niche brand, but a refined, performance-first brand.

Just two years later, On went public on the NYSE with an $11B valuation. And that 3% Federer took? Was estimated to be worth around $330M — earning him 3x more than his 103 titles.

U.S. growth has continued to spike. Today, On has a market cap of close to $15B and the brand has moved into apparel, trail running, tennis, and lifestyle — all while maintaining its minimalist aesthetic and technical DNA.

On is now a go-to choice for elite athletes, creatives, and tech workers who want performance without flash.

They’ve carved out a lane somewhere between Nike’s dominance and Hoka’s maximalism, all while staying lean, premium, and culturally sharp.

Insight of the Week 💡

Apple TV+ is losing over $1 billion a year — and they’re fine with it.

Apple has trimmed its annual content spend from $5B to $4.5B, but the streamer still operates deep in the red — with ~45 million subscribers and no ad-supported tier.

The kicker? It doesn’t matter.

Apple TV+ isn’t built to win the streaming wars. It’s built to elevate the brand, add value to Apple One bundles, and keep users inside the ecosystem.

When your business brings in $391B annually, a billion-dollar streaming loss is just... strategic storytelling.

Thanks for reading! See you next week.